The decline and collapse of the American presidency

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Afrasianet - Author: Tom Engelhardt - Trump paints a picture of old America. If he wins the 2024 election, democracy in this country is likely to end in its literal sense.


Tomdispatch   publishes an article by Tom Engelhardt about the decline of American hegemony over the world, especially if Donald Trump, the elderly, wins the presidency.


Below is the text of the article transferred to Arabic acted:


It was a grave mistake for Americans to vote on November November for one of two elderly men, one 77 and the other 81, both of whom clearly demonstrated language and intellectual problems for a long period of time, but Joe Biden stepped down on Sunday evening.


To be clear, remember that until Ronald Reagan entered his second term in office in 1985 (during which he developed dementia before leaving the White House at age 77), the oldest president was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was 70 years old (yes, 70!). , not when he entered the White House, but when he left after his second term in 1961.


Of course, that was another America in another era, and it was perfectly natural to have the youngest president ever, John F. Kennedy, who was only 46 when he was assassinated.


This happened in 1963 or relatively early in what was formerly known as the "American Century." In fact, the phrase was first used on February February, 1941, before Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or the author of this article came to life. It was the headline of an editorial in LIFE  magazine by Henry Luce, in which he wrote: "The twentieth century is the American century."


By putting a clear imperialist picture of America's entire future in mind, Luce was urging the country to enter the "world scene" and defending Great Britain, into what became known as World War II. He was also convinced that the twentieth century would indeed be "the first century of the United States as the world's dominant power."


When it came to great powers, the United States was not alone on the ground, despite its dominant position; there was the global conflict that became known as the Cold War, which often went in a more heated direction with the Soviet Union (and its ally Communist China, whose forces the United States fought hard in the Korean War in the early fifties). In the late fifties, when we were, Joe, Donald and I, "We bow and take cover" under our classrooms, this country or the Soviet Union could have ended everything with their expanding nuclear arsenals.


However, the years from 1945 until the moment of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 were entirely American, and this was the prevailing sentiment in this country, as Washington's rule stretched from NATO to NATO, and it admittedly had its own problems.


Despite pumping far more money into its military (as it is today) than any other country on this earth, from Korea to Viet Nam, it proved incapable of winning a major war in Asia. In many ways, however, it was a global hegemon, though not the only one. Children like me or Joe and Donald who grew up in such a world felt clearly living in an era of "culture of victory."


Of course, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all of this seemed far from self-evident, and Henry Luce seemed to be an important person. At the time, this country was the only great power with all the power on the planet, and witnessed the point when American officials favored referring to the United States as the "surviving superpower," "the only," or even the "ultimate superpower."


By then, Joe Biden, about 49, was a senator in Washington, D.C., for 18 years, while Donald Trump, 45, was the "successful" chairman of Trump Management (his father's company for which he became an intern). Despite often losing millions of dollars, he was also the owner of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and a number of troubled casinos in Atlantic City.


In 1991, it seemed as if everyone on this earth (including Joe and Donald), interested or not, had entered the American century in dazzling fashion. Given that there were no other great powers, China had not yet begun its "rise," the phrase "last superpower" did not seem exaggerated or even bravado in the American century, which was only 50 years old, so to speak. It was definitely a phase Policymakers in Washington believed that the world was left to us with its lock, money and oil, a situation that naturally affected both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who were still relatively young.


Today, 83 years after the beginning of that century, I need not point out that this planet, whatever its form, is not entirely American. You might also think that the American century in old age has become the perfect symbolic place for Trump if he wins the presidency after Biden steps down, and it will be difficult to get a clearer sense of how advanced the American century is by watching Trump, who was born in that century, run again for president in an American world that clearly appears. It stands on the edge of the abyss.


Trump paints a picture of old America. If he wins the 2024 election, democracy in this country is likely to end in its literal sense.


I never imagined that I would one day encounter a world in which Donald Trump could have the extraordinary power to make 2024 the last year for real U.S. elections, and he could indeed put the final exclamation mark for the American world I've been familiar with all these years, whether he wins the presidency or not.


Trump wins or not, we will watch an imperialist superpower collapse on a planet that may itself be on its way to falling. Growing up in the fifties, I didn't think of the United States as an imperialist power; my country was a democracy (or so I once thought) that did generally well in this difficult world. Today, whatever you think of it, it seems poised to fall for a long time in a world less American than ever; In a faster way if Donald Trump takes over the reins of the presidency that has recently become more authoritarian by his Supreme Court.


Today, it is hard to imagine a world in which this country was the undisputed "sole superpower." Instead, the country seems to be transforming itself into a heavily armed, stumbling block, and divisive culture on a planet that threatens to plunge into chaos of war, as well as unprecedented droughts, fires, floods, storms, and heat.


If old Donald Trump, who recently nearly was killed by a young man standing on the roof of a building in Butler, Pennsylvania, with an AR-15 rifle, is re-elected on November November, we will undoubtedly find ourselves in an almost unimaginable version of the culture of defeat!

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